Curial Powers Expanded

September 19, 2008

In light of Thursday’s vote to depose Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh from the ordained ministry of The Episcopal Church, the proposed changes to the Title IV disciplinary canons appear even more likely to be approved when they are considered by General Convention in July 2009.

Two canonical challenges in Salt lake City failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority needed to overturn the Presiding Bishop’s interpretation under the canons:

*That the canons specify that the three senior bishops with jurisdiction must consent to the inhibition of a bishop before deposition proceedings can begin; and

*That a majority of all bishops entitled to vote is required for a deposition under the abandonment canon to pass.

Under the revised canons, inhibition occurs as soon as the Title IV [disciplinary] Review Committee certifies sufficient grounds to proceed with a hearing. Retired bishops, who by and large have not attended meetings of the House of Bishops in recent years, will lose their status as voting members of the House.

During a press conference sponsored by the American Anglican Council (AAC) shortly after the deposition vote on Sept. 18, the Rev. Philip Ashey, president of the AAC, observed that it was now easier to depose a bishop for abandonment than it is for a bishop to resign or for the House to approve a 10-minute recess during debate. The loosening of procedural safeguards for the accused greatly expands the Presiding Bishop’s curial powers over the church. From its inception right up through its recent submissions to the Covenant Design Group, a curial style of polity is something that most Episcopalians have strongly resisted. the rest